Impact of Dynamic Assessment on ADHD Learners’ Knowledge of L2 Vocabulary and Selective Attention: A Case Study
Abstract
With the growing concern for the issues and problems associated with static testing, dynamic assessment has been receiving increased attention as an alternative in educational settings. The purpose of this single case longitudinal study was to explore the effects of interactionist Dynamic Assessment (DA) on ADHD L2 learners’ knowledge of vocabulary and selective attention. A 13-year-old female EFL learner with the combined type of ADHD voluntarily participated in this study as an elementary student. During each session, a few new vocabulary items were taught through providing mediations relying on a regulatory scale from the most implicit to the most explicit emerging from the interactions between the mediator and the learner. The microgenetic analysis of DA protocols led to the development of an inventory of mediations consisting of different forms of implicit and explicit prompts. The quantitative analysis of the data demonstrated that DA had contributed to the learners’ knowledge of vocabulary and some congruent parameters of selective attention. The qualitative analysis of the data also demonstrated a number of fluctuations in the participant’s performance in some DA sessions. The findings of this study provide further insight into practitioners’ perception of how ADHD learners can learn an L2 and, at the same time, call for teachers’ and materials developers’ greater attention to the progressive mediations required to help ADHD learners develop a higher level of self-regulation through dialogic and social interactions.
Authors: Roya Khoii, Hadiseh Salehi
Speaker: Roya Khoii
Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2023
- Date of Conference: 26-28 June, 2023
- DOI: 10.20533/CICE.2023.0004
- Electronic ISBN: 978-1-913572-58-7
- Conference Location: Residence and Conference Centre, Toronto, Canada